Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) shut down on Thursday the main highway connecting Ramallah to Nablus to pave the way before an Israeli marathon near Ariel settlement.

The Palestinian Military Liaison with Israel said the IOF informed the Palestinian Authority (PA) that the Ramallah-Nablus road, also marked as Route 60, would be closed from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Witnesses told the PIC reporter that IOF soldiers and policemen were deployed on the road from the Ariel settlement, the marathon's starting point, to Shilo settlement, in northern Ramallah, the marathon’s finish line.

The marathon has led to the closure of five Palestinian schools in the area which deprived around 1700 students of attending classes on Thursday.

In a statement to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC), Adnan Ahmad, headmaster of one of the schools, said the five schools were completely closed by an order from the Palestinian Ministry of Education.

He explained that the decision was made as a result of the closure of the highway since the students along with their teachers would not be able to reach the schools. It also aimed at guaranteeing the safety of students as well as the staff from any expected attacks by settlers, he elaborated.

Schoolteachers condemned the closure of the main road which affected the educational process and blocked the traffic.

For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Information said this is a violation of the international law.

It underlined that the violent practices of Jewish settlers under the protection of the IOF are considered a crime for which Israel should be held accountable at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

A factional coordination committee in Nablus called for announcing Thursday to be a “popular day of anger”, calling on Palestinians to prevent the marathon from taking place.

The PA official in charge of settlement file in the northern West Bank Ghassan Daghlas disclosed that the Jewish settlers were planning another marathon to take place in Burqa town to the north of Nablus in the coming days.

The World Bank says Israeli restrictions have prevented the development of the energy sector in large areas of the West Bank, and the volatile atmosphere in the occupied Palestinian territories have discouraged the private sector from investing in Palestine’s energy sector.The US-based international financial institution said in a statement released on Wednesday that the Palestinian energy market is small and the chances to expand and develop the energy sources are very limited, at least for the time being.The statement also mentioned the factors that prevent the repayment of unpaid electricity bills by Palestinians. The main factors are the absence of institutionalized and transparent invoicing by the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), as well as the high interest rates for late payments set unilaterally by the Israeli regulator.The World Bank report said the power sector in a healthy economy is expected to generate revenues and contribute to economic development, but the lack of a power energy sector is putting immense pressure on the Palestinian economy.Steen Lau Jorgensen, the World Bank’s country director for the West Bank and Gaza, said the outstanding payments owed to the IEC took a heavy toll on a struggling Palestinian fiscal situation, and have led to arbitrary cuts in the power supply.He added that these outstanding payments have been deducted from the tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority by Israel.Earlier, the Palestinian Health Ministry warned of a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip if Israel does not lift its crippling siege on the region.A ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qidra, said on Tuesday that the health situation was worsening in the impoverished coastal enclave due to Israel’s siege.The official said that hundreds of patients in the coastal sliver were in life-threatening conditions as they were in an urgent need of medical treatment, warning that their lives will be at risk if Israel continues its siege on the region.The Gaza Strip has been under a crippling Israeli siege since 2007. The blockade, which has cut off the territory from the outside world, has led to an economic and humanitarian crisis in the densely-populated enclave.

The Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) prevented the access of certain types of wood and goods into the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said.

Speaking to Anatolia news agency, director of the Palestinian side of the Israeli Karm Abu Salem crossing Mounir al-Ghalban stated that the IOA decided two weeks ago to ban the entry of a certain type of wood (Swedish) into the besieged strip of Gaza.

Some other types of goods were also prevented including iron pipes and welding rods after being allowed in limited quantities following Israel’s summer aggression on Gaza, he added.

The IOA has imposed tight restrictions on Gazan imports and near total ban on electronic, plastic, and metal materials' access into the Strip.

It has been three months since the Israeli authorities arrested Akram Yassin, a 35-year-old businessman from Gaza, as he passed through Erez Crossing in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Yassin is a Palestinian businessman from Gaza. He is a transporter of food and feed with an Israeli commercial permit to pass through Erez Crossing. Yassin was arrested at Erez Crossing, like 30 other Gaza businessmen who have been arrested since the start of 2015, in a new Israeli means to suffocate the Strip economically.

Saleh Yassin, brother of Akram Yassin, confirmed that the Israeli Court postponed his brother's trial and accused him of smuggling banned raw materials to the Strip.

Saleh confirmed that the Yassin family hired a lawyer for the defense. However, the Israeli authorities are trying to evade the trial by delaying it for unknown reasons.

Erez Crossing is no longer a safe way for the Palestinian patients and businessmen as it has become a trap for the citizens of Gaza in an Israeli attempt to force them to collaborate with Israel.

A policy to destroy Gaza economy

The Palestinian Businessmen Association in Gaza condemned the recent Israeli arrest of a number of businessmen at Erez Crossing, including Khalid Lubbad, a member of the Association's Board of Directors.

Head of the Palestinian Business Association, Ali Al-Hayek, said, "Arresting the Palestinian businessmen is a new and dangerous phenomenon that would have repercussions for the Palestinian economy that has already been suffocating for eight years as a result for the continuous Israeli blockade."

Al-Hayek described the Israeli practices against the Palestinian businessmen as "kidnapping not arresting" that aim to destroy the Palestinian economy, to keep the Palestinian dependence on the Israeli products, and to guarantee selling the Israeli businessmen's imported goods in Gaza markets.

Al-Hayek confirmed the Gaza businessmen's fear for their safety when passing through the Gaza-West Bank crossings. He also stressed their need for a free movement to do their business. Al-Hayek added that the Association contacted the authorities in charge and clarified the risks facing the Palestinian business and businessmen due to such Israeli practices.

He considered the Israeli arrests of businessmen as targeting the Palestinian economy that was severely affected by the latest Israeli aggression on the Strip in the summer of 2014. Restrictions on businessmen are a total destruction of the Palestinian economy, he opined.

The businessmen in the Strip refused the Israeli policy of arrests that tighten the siege on Gaza and negatively affect the life of all Palestinians in the Strip.

Al-Hayek called on the PLO and international organizations to intervene to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to release the businessmen and stop the abusive practices.

Forced collaboration

Abd Al-Nassir Ferwana, head of the Statistics Department in the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, said that the arrests of the Palestinian businessmen at Erez Crossing have recently increased. He expressed concern regarding this new Israeli policy in a statement to the PIC reporter.

Ferwana stressed the importance of ending the Israeli attempts to coerce the Palestinians to collaborate with Israel at Erez Crossing. He demanded that the Ministry of National Economy, the human rights organizations, and the international organizations, such as the WTO, put pressure on Israel to release the Palestinian businessmen, facilitate their movement, and ensure their safety.

Deputy head of Hamas's political bureau Ismail Haneyya on Saturday paid a visit to some outposts of the Palestinian resistance on the eastern border of the Gaza Strip.

Informed sources told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that Haneyya also toured the northeastern border of Gaza and met with commanders and fighters of al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas.

This was not the first recent visit of this kind made by a senior Hamas official. Mahmoud al-Zahhar, a member of Hamas's political bureau, had already toured border posts belonging to al-Qassam Brigades.

Several training sites had been established close to Israel's border fence in Gaza by al-Qassam Brigades following the last war. Some photos of these sites were released recently on the Internet by the Brigades.

The Israeli occupation Authorities (IOA) decided Thursday to close Karem Abu Salem and Beit Hanoun border crossings for seven days as of Saturday at the pretext of Jewish holidays, director of crossings Nazmi Muhanna said.

The Israeli authorities informed us that Karem Abu Salem and Beit Hanoun border crossings would be closed for seven days in April due to the Jewish holidays, Muhanna explained.

The two crossings will be closed on 4, 10, 20, 22, 23 April as well as on 23 and 24 May.

He said that the Israeli decision would freeze the movement of goods at the crossings and negatively affect the deteriorating economic and living conditions in the besieged Strip.

The Gaza Strip has seven border crossings, six of which are controlled by the Israeli authorities while Egypt controls the Rafah border crossing.

Since the Egyptian military coup in 2013, the Rafah crossing has been permanently closed before Palestinian passengers except for the very difficult humanitarian cases.

Joint IDF-JNF plan to trees planted along the Gaza border will screen local kibbutzim from Hamas rocket and sniper attacks.Israel is planting trees along its border with Gaza as a way of protecting the communities in the area from the Islamist group Hamas that controls the coastal strip. The forestation project along the border has resumed for the first time since the end of Operation Protective Edge last summer, and aims to protect the residents from attacks from Gaza. Anyone walking in the area at the moment cannot miss the heavy equipment and dozens of staff working on planting new trees, young and old, in order to hide exposed areas.The project applies to several dozen kibbutzim in the Shaar Hangev and Eshkol regional councils that border the Gaza Strip. The kibbutzim are not only exposed to sniper and mortar fire, but also provide the terrorist organizations in Gaza with "markers" for the area. The joint project between the IDF and Jewish National Funds runs to an estimate NIS 13 million. The planting project is overseen by the chief security officer for the Shaar Hanegev council, Eyal Hajbi. The project was launched before the fighting began last summer, but in the wake of the conflict, several weak points were spotted where it was decided to plant trees. After the infrastructure and irrigation systems were prepared, the project reached the planting stage, and in some cases local kibbutzim assumed responsibility for one other. For example, when Kibbutz Kfar Aza decided to uproot trees due construction of residential areas, they moved them to the forests by neighboring Kibbutz Nahal Oz. "The forestation defense campaign is moving into high gear," said the head of the Shaar Hanegev council, Alon Schuster. "The mature trees we had to move from Kfar Aza due to demographic growth are being planted at our neighbors in Nahal Oz. This is an example of mutual responsibility."Trees are used not only to protect the communities near Gaza, but also for the train line. A few weeks after Protective Edge began, Israel started planting trees along the railway tracks on the Ashkelon-Sderot route, to protect the train from attack by Gaza missile fire.

Palestinian economist Maher al-Tabba said that the Gaza Strip needs more than 10,000 tons of cement per day to swiftly reconstruct it.

Tabba, a senior official of the commerce chamber in Gaza, stated in press remarks to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that about 7,000 tons of building materials were allowed into the Strip over the past seven months.

He asserted that such quantities were not enough to cover the construction needs in Gaza for one day.

He held the Israeli occupation authority fully responsible for obstructing the reconstruction efforts in Gaza through its persistence in its blockade on Gaza.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Saturday prevented governor of Ramallah and Bireh Laila Ghannam from entering Nabi Saleh town and threatened to harm her.

According to a statement released by the office of the governor, Israeli soldiers barred Ghannam from reaching Nabi Saleh and threatened to target her directly if she participated in the weekly march of the town.

The soldiers posted at the entrance of the town also detained the director of the governor's office for some hours before releasing him.

For her part, Ghannam stated that such measures and threats would not stop her from participating in the weekly marches of the West Bank.

The popular resistance committees in the West Bank organize a weekly march in Nabi Saleh town to protest Israel's annexation of Palestinian land and settlement projects in the northwestern areas of Ramallah.

The senior Hamas leader Ismail Radwan renewed his Movement’s willingness to deliver Gaza crossings to Palestinian Authority unity government in accordance with the Cairo Agreement which stipulates delivering the crossings based on partnership not exclusion of Gazan civil workers.

On the eve of Palestinian Prime Minster Rami al-Hamdallah’s visit to Gaza, the Hamas senior official told the PIC reporter, “The unity government must treat Palestinians without discrimination or bias”.

He stressed that the visit should be serious and responsible, and called on Hamdallah to shoulder his responsibility in Gaza in his capacity as the Prime Minister, noting that the government has not fulfilled its duties in Gaza.

He called on PM Hamdallah to deal with governmental departments in Gaza and to solve Gaza crises including the employees file in addition to providing budgets for ministries.

Media sources said PM Hamdallah will hold talks with Gazan ministers and Palestinian factions, and is expected to meet Deputy Chairman of Hamas political bureau Ismail Haneyya.

Post-election thoughts from Hagai El-Ad, Executive Direction of B’Tselem, FIDH member organisation in Israel. Dear friends, Like many of you, the results of this week’s election in Israel weigh heavy on the minds of all of us at B’Tselem. Thus, I want to share some thoughts with you. The election results show, loud and clear, that the voting public in Israel favors the ongoing occupation in its present form: a military rule that denies basic rights to millions of people, settlement expansion and its inverse the expropriation of Palestinian lands and the dispossession of its owners, and an entire occupation apparatus that entrenches two separate legal systems, unjust military courts, and a permit regime controlling most aspects of Palestinian life. The verdict is crystal clear – as are the limits within which it was handed down. This week, millions of Palestinian subjects, living for more than two generations under Israeli control, again did not get to cast a ballot in an election that fundamentally impacts their daily lives and their future. As our spokesperson Sarit Michaeli noted several days before the election, in June 2017 - within the excepted term of the new Knesset - we will mark the 50th year of occupation. This state of affairs persists largely because it is allowed, bearable, and cheap. Well – expensive and cruel to the Palestinians, but fairly convenient for Israelis. In fact, it is so convenient that the issue of the occupation hardly came up in the recent electoral campaigns. Change will only come either through new developments among Palestinians, a strategic shift in the largely occupation-tolerant international community, or the effective actions of Israelis who oppose the occupation. We, the latter, have hard years ahead of us. We must address reality without euphemisms and deal with its implications. Within these hard and sobering election results, we now clearly know where the Israeli public stands. It would have been all too easy to continue the masquerade. Now that the masks are off, the ugly reality of indefinite military occupation is staring us in the face. We must return the gaze unflinchingly, voice our dissent loudly, and remember that the future is in our hands. The fight against the occupation did not begin yesterday and will not end now. We, at B’Tselem, will continue our work. As you saw, we recently published upsetting footage of dogs being set on a Palestinian youth and night raids on Palestinian homes. We will continue to bring to light the daily aspects of occupation and to fight them undeterred. At the same time, we know that only ending occupation will end these injustices once and for all, and to that goal we are unwaveringly committed. The occupation is here to stay. With your help, we are here to end it. Sincerely, Hagai El-Ad Executive Director B’Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories